Spirit of Knowledge pushes for support

Supporters of the troubled Spirit of Knowledge Charter School continued to push for banking and community support as they face the possible closing of their school Thursday.

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Supporters of the troubled Spirit of Knowledge Charter School continued to push for banking and community support Monday as they face the possible closing of their school Thursday.

School leaders have said they will not be able to pay employees past the end of the month, and the school's board of trustees has scheduled a third meeting in a week for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The trustees could vote to surrender their charter. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will step in if the school reaches the point where it cannot make payroll, trustees Chairman Barrington A. Henry said last week.

Students made an impromptu visit Monday morning to Commerce Bank morning and met with a vice president. Although he posed for a picture with them, the school did not have a line of credit it needed by the time Dean of Students David S. Cutler and several students went on the Jordan Levy radio show Monday afternoon.

On the show, Mr. Cutler acknowledged that the early years of the 4-year-old school's start had been rocky, with the loss of $185,000 in a real estate deal that the school could not recoup and the incorrect filing of a report with the state that hurt the school's reimbursement.

He emphasized that the school, which leases space, does not have any debt. He also planned to go on WICN radio Monday evening to talk about the school.

At a meeting Sunday night, Spirit of Knowledge trustee William Randell said he planned to look into bringing a charter management company on board, such as New Jersey-based Renaissance School Services. Renaissance was involved in Lowell Community Charter Public School, but the school later severed the relationship. Neither of the other two charter schools in Worcester works with a charter management company.

Spirit of Knowledge students and families have balked about entering Worcester public schools, even though Worcester schools are scoring the same or better than Spirit of Knowledge on all MCAS-related measures but one (10th-grade English).

If the school closes, it will be the fifth charter school in Massachusetts to close mid-year. Of the first four, one had its charter revoked; the rest surrendered the charters.

Charter schools are free public schools that act as their own school districts after winning approval from the state.